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- From: U45301@uicvm.uic.edu (Mary Jacobs)
- Newsgroups: talk.abortion
- Subject: CLINTON SPEECH TEXT: PA VS. CASEY
- Message-ID: <92232.054126U45301@uicvm.uic.edu>
- Date: 19 Aug 92 10:41:26 GMT
- Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
- Lines: 67
-
- CLINTON SPEECH TEXT NOW POSTED ON ALT.POLITICS.CLINTON
-
- SEND COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS INFORMATION TO THE
- CLINTON/GORE CAMPAIGN AT 75300.3115@COMPUSERVE.COM
- (This information is posted for public education purposes. It does
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- ========================================================================
- REMARKS BY GOVERNOR BILL CLINTON
- PENNSYLVANIA V. CASEY
- JUNE 29, 1992
- LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
-
-
- Thank you. Thank you very much. I would like to first thank you
- for coming and for standing in the rain and for coming inside.
-
- I have a statement I want to make today about this Pennsylvania
- decision after which I will be glad to answer questions about it.
-
- The decision in the Pennsylvania case, and the comments made in
- dissent by Justice Blackmun, make it abundantly clear that the
- constitutional right to choose is hanging by a thread. We are
- only one justice away from returning to the painful past before
- Roe v. Wade, and only a president committed to maintaining the
- present law can maintain the constitutional right to choose.
-
- It may be a court for Bush and for Reagan, but it's our country
- and our constitutional rights. And I think this election now
- plainly imposes on all American citizens the obligation to
- protect our liberties.
-
- We can also demand that Congress pass a National Freedom of
- Choice Act, but we know even if Congress does, it will only
- become law if we have a new president.
-
- I want to say again what I have said many times in many places
- across this country. I have believed in the rule of Roe v. Wade
- for twenty years since I used to teach it in law school.
-
- Being pro-choice is not the same thing as being pro-abortion.
- There are many people who have many different opinions about many
- different abortions.
-
- Those of us who believe in the rule of Roe v. Wade are united in
- the simple conviction that we don't want to go back to the time
- when a woman or her doctor were made criminals because they made
- the decision that they felt was right in their own consciences,
- and with their own hearts.
-
- I think this is a very disturbing day. I regret it very much. You
- have four judges plainly committed to repeal Roe v. Wade, three
- others nibbling around the edges, and a brave Justice Blackmun
- saying he doesn't know how much longer he can hang on.
-
- This is one of the things this presidential election is about.
- And I hope the American people will say in clear and unambiguous
- terms that we do not want to go back. Those of us who are old
- enough to remember know that it is not the thing to do.
-
- So I stand here before you today to say that I am not
- particularly surprised by this decision, but the details are not
- nearly as important as the fact that four people came out
- forthrightly for repealing Roe v. Wade, and that Justice Blackmun
- sent us a clear signal that only the next election can preserve
- it.
-
- Thank you very much.
-